Raising a huntress

02350FC · Mar 13, 2017

I am a new dad well a year ago I guess... and when we found out we were having a girl I was bummed because I wanted to pass on elk hunting to my kido. but then I realized there is no reason she wouldn't hunt and I'm doing my best to encourage her in anything . She does have an infinity to the outdoors and rocks so things are looking up! We watch fresh tracks together and she points and grunts when there are bulls on the screen. Not sure where that is going to go but it's cool that she's pointing them out. I think she's working on her bugle sometimes as well. I just thought there might be some dads that are lucky enough to hunt with that little girl that has your heart strings.

WestT · Mar 14, 2017

I've got two...I expect them to have every opportunity that any boy has. It's just up to me to put it out there and encourage it. They'll ultimately be the ones to decide what interests they persue. However, we hunt and fish together now so we're heading in the right direction!

JColony · Mar 14, 2017

I have a 3y/o little girl and she brings up hunting almost daily. Sometimes its wanting to go for a drive in the "hunting rig", sometimes its wanting to go hunting in the back yard, or she just wants to play with my spotting scope, aka eye scope. I think the biggest factor is just exposure. Show them hunting shows and let them read your magazines. Showing them its fun when they are young will keep them interested and wanting to participate.

Lefty315 · Mar 14, 2017

Two daughters that both hunt and enjoy fishing here and there with Dad. Been taking the oldest to Montana since she was 2, the youngest since she was 4. Plenty of funny stories from our trips.

VAspeedgoat · Mar 14, 2017

I have two boys and a girl. The girl is the youngest. I would say that girls are different than boys but she's no different than the two were from each other. So my opinion is that every kid is different, go at their pace. Some kids can sit still some can't. Some kids naturally shoot well, others are gun shy. Generally kids are interested in what their parents do so just let them participate and the rest happens naturally.

My little girl is five and wants to hunt pheasants one day. She is left eye dominant but right handed so we are getting her to shoot left handed. One those go at their pace things. She likes camo with pink trim even though I hate it and likes drawing while sitting in a deer blind. Her favorite game meat is squirrel and she helps us bag stuff up when we butcher. I'll look past the pink trim when she's got blood on her hands from fresh backstraps.

406LIFE · Mar 14, 2017

The past two years I have taken a friends daughter on their first hunt (goats and deer). They seemed happy just to get the chance. They never complained, always asked good questions. I would take them hunting again in a heartbeat. The only bad part was I kept forgetting their legs are way shorter than mine, and they would be trailing back, halfway running just to keep up.

SFC B · Mar 14, 2017

Here is my huntin buddy (along with her big brother). The pig was taken in TX when she was 8 and she has been chomping at the bit to go here in CO ever since. Hopefully the draw will give us good results this year

She loves to shoot anything and is a really good shot. The rifle build in HT-08 was shown in the firearms forum here. Hopefully schedules will allow us to break that puppy in the next week or so.

rtraverdavis · Mar 14, 2017

0235OFC, it sounds like we're in about the same place. My daughter is 10 months old. When I was younger, I felt like I needed to have a boy to pass on my love of the outdoors to. I thought that probably a girl wouldn't get it. But now I think that's just silly. I think it probably came from the fact that it was my dad who passed on his love of hunting and fishing to me, rather than my mom. Like others have already said though, I think it's all about exposure. My wife and I took our daughter camping for the first time when she was two months old. She liked it so much and did so well that we've taken her several times since. When it's not raining here (my wife's not keen on the kid being out in the rain for hours on end with me) we hike. My girl would way rather be outside than in, also makes grunting sounds and keys in bugling elk when Fresh Tracks is on, and loves venison. I'm a teacher, so I've got summers off, and plan to spend most of this summer with her on my back, poking around in the woods. If you don't have one already, get one of those nice kid-toting backpacks by Kelty. They're super comfortable for both you and your little girl.

sneakypete · Mar 14, 2017

I got one daughter who has a hunting license and now ready to graduate from college. Thou she has been turkey hunting with me she has never taken a turkey! But she's my huntress!

HSi-ESi · Mar 15, 2017

Take your kids outside and let them have fun. If you have fun, so do they.

Introduce them to shooting sports. Sling-shots kick a$$. So do bows, BB-guns and .22's. Teach them meat comes from animals - and it tastes better if you butcher it yourself.

Notice I didn't mention gender. Also, enjoy every minute of it.

wa_archer · Mar 15, 2017

I have a girl and boy, we were over at neighbors having dinner and they looked at her and asked "who shot the chicken" my neighbor almost died laughing. I guess I'm raising them right. I think its just introducing them to it and living/loving how you live. They will have to make the decision as they grow up from there.

FishN4Eyes · Mar 15, 2017

I have two daughters.

Wouldn't change anything with them.

Both are excellent shooters and both have shot some very nice elk, deer, moose, antelope and several species of African animals.

Boy or girl, if they show any interest in the outdoors, embrace it, encourage it, and ENJOY it!

LuketheDog · Mar 15, 2017

I've got two daughters as well, 4.5 and 1.5 years old. The older one is absolutely dying to go hunting with me, I think this is the year she gets to go. She already loves to fish, I bought her a 5' tenkara rod that she slays the sunfish with.

02350FC · Mar 18, 2017

Lefty your daughters are gorgeous and I love to see the girls with game down! Thanks guys for the chat and pointers a lot of your posts make me laugh! Dylan loves the outdoors she gets a little crabby as she is turning 1 but if you just go outside she's good to go only time she gets mad is when you take her away for her dirt muffin. Guess she's her dad's daughter! She loves taking our chessie to go work her I was trying to post my profile pic of us working to dog but it's sideways.

JohnCushman · Mar 18, 2017

I have a little different situation. My 'girl' hunting buddy is my wife. The first time she came over to my house I fed her elk/deer chili and she loved it. The next time was antelope steaks. She loved it. She thought antelope were some sort of mythical creature that her dad made up, so I took her out to the grasslands and found her some. She started getting the hunting bug when I'd bring home an animal and was all excited. She says to me one day after a full week of game meat...if I hunted we could have twice the meat. So she took her hunter safety course. I bought her a rifle and it was great because she had never touched a gun before other than one of my handguns. She started shooting it, and the nice thing was that she had no bad habits to break her of. Once she got good enough with her rifle we started getting her hunting tags. 2 years ago she had a doe antelope tag and she missed a shot. We went to Arkansas and she missed a couple of deer on some really long shots. But, she was still excited. Last year I got her a leftover muzzleloader antelope doe tag and she scored on her first big game animal (she had shot a couple rabbits with a .22). The excitement she had was amazing and it brought back memories of my first big game animal. For 'dates' we pack up some food and go out to the grasslands and eat dinner in the truck watching the sunset and scouting for antelope. She doesn't like the mall or going out to eat and all of that. She had a muzzleloader deer tag last year as well and we camped out in her unit. It was her first time ever camping. Right behind out camp there was a little pond and she caught the hell out of bluegills and I filleted every one of them and cooked them for her. So, she has definitely been bit by the hunting bug and wants a bow now. So, I reformed the city girl and she is happy living out in the country now.

02350FC · Mar 18, 2017

John thanks for that! My wife wasn't exposed to hunting from her dad but a year and a half of marriage we were at dinner and she mentioned wanting to hunt and I almost shed a tear! I took her duck hunting but it was a shit show sonshe wasn't to stoked about it but is warming up to that again. The antelope is a good point I think I'll put in for a speed goat draw that would be a good first exposure.

Lefty315 · Mar 18, 2017

02350FC said:
Lefty your daughters are gorgeous and I love to see the girls with game down! Thanks guys for the chat and pointers a lot of your posts make me laugh! Dylan loves the outdoors she gets a little crabby as she is turning 1 but if you just go outside she's good to go only time she gets mad is when you take her away for her dirt muffin. Guess she's her dad's daughter! She loves taking our chessie to go work her I was trying to post my profile pic of us working to dog but it's sideways.

I would say my girls are fair weather hunters but they will tough it out when they need to. Several years ago at my Granddad's in eastern Montana the temps were -15 and the wind was blowing pretty hard so no idea what it really felt like. They were bundled up and hunkered down behind a downed cottonwood tree. I could barely see the eyes of the younger one she was so protected. She had some video game and was perfectly content. She'd raise her head every now and then to look around and go back to her game. Never complained a bit.

02350FC · Mar 18, 2017

That's awesome I feel like there are so many lessons there!

the nikster · Mar 18, 2017

My oldest daughter loves to fish. She has a bull moose, bull elk, couple of mulie bucks and several does all shot with an open sighted 30-30.
My wife got a nice elk with her pink 243 a couple years back.
My son has several deer with his open sighted 30-30 as well.
My youngest daughter hugs every tree we pass.
Whatever you do, they will choose their paths, especially the girls.
I have hundreds of memories of me and my kids outdoors. I cherish every one, even the ones where all we carry are cameras.
Follow your gut- you will do just fine

Raising a huntress

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